1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method for processing a substrate. Examples of substrates to be processed include semiconductor wafers, substrates for liquid crystal displays, substrates for plasma displays, substrates for FEDs (Field Emission Displays), substrates for optical disks, substrates for magnetic disks, substrates for magneto-optical disks, substrates for photomasks, ceramic substrates, substrates for solar cells, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
United States Patent Application Publication No. 2013/073069 discloses scheduling for a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of processing units. With this prior art, for each individual substrate to be processed, a plurality of tentative timetables, expressing a plurality of paths respectively passing through a plurality of processing units capable of executing the processing designated for the substrate, are prepared. One tentative timetable is then selected and scheduling, which specifies substrate transfer and substrate processing for a single substrate, is performed by positioning each block, constituting the selected tentative timetable, at an earliest possible position on a time axis while avoiding overlapping use of the same resource at the same time.